Let's try a different approach to get readers interested in a new book by lifting some real-time news stories about it and what other sources have to say: it's all at your fingertips
Note first that it all started with Susan writing a blog
"Just over three years ago, on February 19, 2017, Susan Fowler published a blog post. “I’ve gotten a lot of questions over the past couple of months about why I left and what my time at Uber was like,” she began. “It’s a strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying story that deserves to be told while it is still fresh in my mind, so here we go.”
Slightly horrifying, it would turn out, was an understatement. The post documented a pattern of discrimination and harassment at the company that had made it its public mission to change the way people move through the world. . . "
BLOGGER NOTE: Quite the difference between the stated public mission and what she experienced in the company.
Here's just one incident that gave Fowler a clue:
" . . . after Uber had decided to buy its engineers branded leather jackets, Fowler and her female colleagues were informed that they’d need to forgo the perk: The company was getting a discount on the bulk order for the men’s sizes, an email explained, but “there were not enough women in the organization” to get the same discount for their jackets. The company’s handling of the whole thing was an absurdity that, in the context of the rest of Fowler’s blog post, also read as evidence of something more sinister. . . "
HERE'S THE CLINCHER: Fowler’s post instantly went viral.
> It led to an investigation into Uber’s culture that was co-conducted by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
> It led to the resignation of Uber’s co-founder and onetime CEO, Travis Kalanick.
> It led to demonstrable, quantifiable change.
> But it led to a more nebulous kind of transformation as well.
Several months before journalists’ reporting on Harvey Weinstein would expand the #MeToo movement, Fowler’s post—and the outrage it inspired among both tech workers and the many people whose lives have been shaped by their labors—suggested a shift. A worker could blow the whistle without an intermediary. She could tell her story in her own words, on her own terms. And she would, at least in this instance, be heard. . . "
Susan Fowler discusses her book, "Whistle Blower", at Politics and Prose.
One of the first women to speak out in what became the #MeToo movement, Fowler came to national attention in 2017 when she posted an account of the sexual harassment she’d endured as an entry-level engineer at Uber.
The story went viral, led to extensive shake ups at the company, and put Fowler on the cover of Time as one of the year’s “Silence Breakers.” In this powerful memoir, Fowler, now technology op-ed editor at The New York Times, reveals additional details about her time at Uber as well as reporting on the company’s response to her charges.
She also puts these recent experiences into the larger context of her life, recounting the determination that took her from an impoverished childhood in rural Arizona to an Ivy League education and on to her brave public stand.
Fowler is in conversation with Liz Bruenig, New York Times opinion writer. https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9... The technology op-ed editor at The New York Times, Susan Fowler has been named a "Person of the Year" by Time, The Financial Times, and the Webby Awards, and has appeared on Fortune's "40 under 40" list, Vanity Fair's New Establishment List, Marie Claire's New Guard List, the Bloomberg 50, the Upstart 50, the Recode 100, and more.
She is the author of a book on computer programming that has been implemented by companies across Silicon Valley.
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Note first that it all started with Susan writing a blog
Top stories
Whistleblower Has a Hidden Power
"Just over three years ago, on February 19, 2017, Susan Fowler published a blog post. “I’ve gotten a lot of questions over the past couple of months about why I left and what my time at Uber was like,” she began. “It’s a strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying story that deserves to be told while it is still fresh in my mind, so here we go.”
Slightly horrifying, it would turn out, was an understatement. The post documented a pattern of discrimination and harassment at the company that had made it its public mission to change the way people move through the world. . . "
BLOGGER NOTE: Quite the difference between the stated public mission and what she experienced in the company.
Here's just one incident that gave Fowler a clue:
" . . . after Uber had decided to buy its engineers branded leather jackets, Fowler and her female colleagues were informed that they’d need to forgo the perk: The company was getting a discount on the bulk order for the men’s sizes, an email explained, but “there were not enough women in the organization” to get the same discount for their jackets. The company’s handling of the whole thing was an absurdity that, in the context of the rest of Fowler’s blog post, also read as evidence of something more sinister. . . "
HERE'S THE CLINCHER: Fowler’s post instantly went viral.
> It led to an investigation into Uber’s culture that was co-conducted by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
> It led to the resignation of Uber’s co-founder and onetime CEO, Travis Kalanick.
> It led to demonstrable, quantifiable change.
> But it led to a more nebulous kind of transformation as well.
Several months before journalists’ reporting on Harvey Weinstein would expand the #MeToo movement, Fowler’s post—and the outrage it inspired among both tech workers and the many people whose lives have been shaped by their labors—suggested a shift. A worker could blow the whistle without an intermediary. She could tell her story in her own words, on her own terms. And she would, at least in this instance, be heard. . . "
This week, Fowler published a book,
Whistleblower: My Journey to Silicon Valley and Fight for Justice at Uber.
In one way, the memoir is an expansion of the 2017 blog post: It documents, in detail that is deeper and more gut-wrenching than a 2,900-word entry could allow, Fowler’s experiences at Uber. It recounts casual sexism and casual racism and, as Maureen Dowd put it in an article about Fowler’s original post, “the self-indulgent, adolescent Pleasure Island mentality of Silicon Valley.” ButWhistleblower, despite its subtitle’s reference to Uber, is also a memoir in the classic sense. It is the story of how Fowler’s life was shaped by her time at Uber—but a story, too, of her fight for a life that would not succumb to the company’s influence. . .
Susan Fowler discusses her book, "Whistle Blower", at Politics and Prose.
One of the first women to speak out in what became the #MeToo movement, Fowler came to national attention in 2017 when she posted an account of the sexual harassment she’d endured as an entry-level engineer at Uber.
The story went viral, led to extensive shake ups at the company, and put Fowler on the cover of Time as one of the year’s “Silence Breakers.” In this powerful memoir, Fowler, now technology op-ed editor at The New York Times, reveals additional details about her time at Uber as well as reporting on the company’s response to her charges.
She also puts these recent experiences into the larger context of her life, recounting the determination that took her from an impoverished childhood in rural Arizona to an Ivy League education and on to her brave public stand.
Fowler is in conversation with Liz Bruenig, New York Times opinion writer. https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9... The technology op-ed editor at The New York Times, Susan Fowler has been named a "Person of the Year" by Time, The Financial Times, and the Webby Awards, and has appeared on Fortune's "40 under 40" list, Vanity Fair's New Establishment List, Marie Claire's New Guard List, the Bloomberg 50, the Upstart 50, the Recode 100, and more.
She is the author of a book on computer programming that has been implemented by companies across Silicon Valley.
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